I had taken my plants out of the dome and am on step 4/5 at the moment. I was keeping them 2-3" away from the light and one of my plants just kept stretching no matter what and getting closer and closer. Since I’m new I don’t know how long the stem should be but it looks silly being as long as it is now. One guy said I should never have taken my sedlings out of the dome since that can cause slow growth or root rot. My temp is around 72 f / 80-90RH in the dome and 68-71 f / 40-45RH out of the dome. I do agree that they were growing slower once taken out of the dome but the guide said to do that. The man I was speaking to says that guide is outdated but I’m just trying to gather info from the community for the BEST way to go about seedlings. This man has been very helpful and nice to me, but I just want to see what everyone thinks and maybe can inform me on the correct way to go about this stage.
The stem on my tallest seedling is 2 1/4" tall before those starter sun leaves are there with the first set of the two tiny pointed leaves growing in slightly at 1/4" in length. The other five seedlings are following the same idea pretty much, the only reason that one is so far ahead is because it was the first to come up so it has about a day more light than the others yet still seems stronger.
I currently put them back in the dome and am keeping the light right above it (yet it seems so far) and I take the dome out and blow a fan on them for a few hours each evening for the past two days.
@M4ur@raustin They’re currently under a single 54w CFL because I had read that CFL’s are the best for seedlings. Once they’re ready for it… I have a 600w HID light that’s encased with glass that I will use a Vortex S800 powerfan and carbon filter to suck air from the room and push it through insulated ducting, through the encased light and out the other side and lead it to my return for the central air. The actual light will be an MH light to use for veg and a HPS light for flowering.
Someone threw away all my tall domes I had previously so I was using those short domes for just sprouting the seedlings and then took it off and put the light up close as I was following the guide on ILGM. The man said that I should keep them in a dome so I had to go out today and purchase one since mine got tossed by someone… I don’t know what to do. That other guy was super helpful so far and they definitely grow faster in it, but it seems overly tall. When I have the wind, that super tall one blows in the wind at about a 45+ degrees angle since it’s so tall.
Here are some pics of the fan off and dome off but light is raised to fit dome under it. I am fanning them at the moment, turned it off just for pics.
He said if they’re not in the dome, they’ll grow slowly and possibly develop root rot… I obviously don’t want that. & They really were growing slowly when I had taken off the dome for those few days. Today I had it on and they sped up by so much.
Only one is stretching a little bit, maybe you can put a small stick in that pot (gently) and tie that plant to it… But be very careful!
Or you can put those pots on that blue box , to keep them in line under that line
I had them in a nice line, that’s why that blue box is there, it was the perfect height to match the height of the others in the tray. I had that tall one on that and they were all growing straight up perfectly but SUPER slow since they were out of the dome. The man said to put them back in the dome so I had to push one back to fit it.
If I put that one back on the blue box and dome the others, that one wont get domed. I don’t want root rot on any of them.
The issue isn’t that it’s bending, it only is because the light isn’t directly above it since they’re all in that dome. The others are going up straight but the two that share a spot are a bit tilted now, although they were straight up. If I were to put it back in a line, it would go directly straight up again.
My main concern is to use it or not to use it. I just don’t know what to do. I hate using it because I don’t want stretch, but I don’t want to NOT use it because I don’t want root rot… I want stem thickness and leaf development, I think, right? How tall do the stems normally get? I feel that one is tall and the rest are on their way to that point. It’s a lose lose situation at the moment. I was wondering what other people do.
How on earth do people do growing with CFL during seedling stage? I can’t wait to get to my HID’s, it seems so much simpler. I’ve read SO much about just taking the dome off and putting the light 2-3" away and then on here that guy says to dome it and if I don’t I’ll get slow growth and root rot which I definitely was getting super slow growth so I’m assuming he’s totally right… I just don’t know what to do. Just looking for info.
Personally I keep my seedling short because I don’t have a very tall grow space. It’s safe for now but maybe you can rotate them so everyone can benefit from the spot under that light . Just a thought.
I keep my seedling under led bulbs(9-15w), maybe you can add one for that one
Yes, but the thing is that it wouldn’t be in the dome if I did that. I think it would be cheaper to just go buy another dome top and have that in a separate dome than if I were to have to buy another light. My main concern is to use the dome or not to use the dome. Those others will get just as long as this one which isn’t good and continue to get taller. When do you take off the dome?
So I’m reading up on root rot/damping off. It’s saying that it happens when there’s lots of humidity with seedlings or if they’re wet for a really long time. Being in the dome makes all that humidity rot the roots faster, no? Granted they do seem to grow faster that way, wouldn’t that be worse than keeping them out of the dome?
Yes, to much water is not good so, you only need to spray them twice a day and let the soil dry before you spray them again… I only use the dome for the first week the I try to keep the RH to 70%
Ok, take a breath. They actually don’t look that bad. One is stretching more than the others, that’s clear.
This ‘guy’ told you the opposite of what is true, as I think you discovered on your own. With the dome on they do run some risk of damping off because the humidity is so high, but seedlings need high humidity, so keep the dome on, but give them some air too. Does your dome have holes or cut outs to allow air flow? If yes, then open those flaps. If not, then at least once a day take the dome off for some air. It’s a good idea to have a fan, but you don’t want it blowing directly on your seedlings, that can break. So try moving the fan so that the seedlings get a gentle breeze, that’s all they need to strengthen the stems.
As for your lighting, I like to have my LED light on above my CFL to give my seedlings that extra light and get them used to the new lighting. I don’t see why you couldn’t do the same thing with the HID just make sure it isn’t too close, and keep an eye on the temperature.
Also, the reason you’re not seeing any real growth is because they are developing roots. They will start to grow again once they’re roots have had a growth spurt. Be patient.
Thank you for all your info, I guess I’m just getting worried because I don’t want to do anything wrong at all. I’m trying to do the best I can and the internet is full of controversy so it’s so hard to figure out the right answer on things sometimes.
Okay, so dome is correct because they need humidity so he is right with that but off on the fact that without the dome causes root rot?
Okay, they seem to be fine with the amount of wind they’re getting now but I am worried that they might just give in even though they seem to be strong babies. I’ve had the fan on them for 4 hrs again this evening, it’s time to go back in the dome now. I will try moving the fan back more tomorrow.
I am going to set up my whole HID/ducting setup tomorrow, I was waiting for the weekend since people say that the HID lights are too strong for seedlings. I will turn it on though and have it far up so they can slightly get used to it like you said… I just thought it wasn’t good to use HID for seedlings because it’s a waste of money/bulb life and it can be overpowering until 3rd set of leaves. If you think it’s good, I can still do it though, I don’t mind. I’m up for whatever people (as a whole) think is best. I judge no one but take all information in like a dry sponge and water. I plan to get better and better at this over time and to be able to help people too once I get a good rhythm down and have tried many different strains.
My goal is to one day be able to grow the hardest strain(s) available with no casualties so I can consider myself good at growing! Many many years ahead of me but gardening is one of my very few interests in life so I will get there at some point.
I’m keeping a day-by-day diary of everything that I do and progress because my memory fails me quite often when it comes to specific situations. This way I can look back at what I did for positive/negative outcomes in the future.
Try to put the light as high as possible so it isn’t too intense, and don’t leave it on for more than 16 hours. I would leave the CFL on for 24 hours, that should help with the stretching. Use your gardening intuition, they are only plants after all.
Oh, and it is definitely a waste of money and a good bulb. I do it because I don’t care about the efficiency. I just want to grow some weed. Lol
Okay, will do. Thank you, I will do so. It just seems that there are a million more problems that can happen with cannabis than anything else I’ve ever grown before so I’m trying to do the best I can. I’m going all out. (: I have the CFL on a 18/6 timer atm. I will hook my Vortex S800 inline fan up to that same 18/6 timer tomorrow with the HID and move the CFL to a normal plug so it’s on 24 hours. My timer only has two slots but I could get an adapter to make it have more if you think I should. I don’t want to overload a circuit though. I don’t even know if it’s savfe to have both that inline fan and HID both on the same one. I’m bad when it comes with electrical conversions and such, haha.
@Xnate13X. You can take a water bottle and cut it in half and put over your seedlings. I only keep a dome over mine for the first week. Also you need them directly under the light, slightly off center and they’ll bend and stretch their way to it. Here’s how I use my CFL. I got a cheap aluminum pans from $ store and made it into a reflector
as you can see, the stem on the bigger plant is long, that’s because I was trying to get my nodes spaced out more. All you have to do is when you go to transplant into bigger pots, just bury the stem some. Eventually the stem will grow roots out of it
, to keep them in line under that line 
